13 August, 2009
Rocket Science: Hawaii's New Digital Public Access Community Television Service, PULELEHUA.TV
The unique nature of Hawaii's multi island geography has always provided unique challenges that have had to be met by those that have chosen to live here. One of the biggest challenges has been to provide accurate, up to date and locally relevant news, information and educational opportunities not only to the residents of our big cities on O'ahu and Maui, but throughout our Island chain, especially on the outer islands and communities typically labeled as traditionally underserved. It should be unsurprising that given the geographical challenges of a community living on islands spread over a few hundred miles of ocean that Hawaii has come to lead the nation in terms of remote tele-education technology including the provision of educational closed circuit television, public access television and public internet access.
Hawaii' boasts the nations most involved Public Access Television community, by far. Again this is not surprising because public access television, till the recent introduction of public access internet, has been the only way for people within their communities and between their islands to share commentary, questions, ideas and solutions to the issues of governance everyone is faced with every day. And, while the citizens of Oahu have every right to be proud of how they have sheparded the public funding they were entrusted with to construct one of the Nations leading public access stations Olelo, provisioning public access television services to communities throughout Oahu, it has been indeed unfortunate to witness public access dollars being stolen, misappropriated, embezzeled, redirected into political campaigns and just downright wasted by the "executives" and "lawyers" of the PEG Access organizations on Hawaii's other islands where accountability of the public funds has been lax, and a perceived lack of enforcement has been adopted as a license to both steal, and enforce the denial of access to others. Additionally, the upcoming February 2009 transition of broadcast television to digital is causing additional concerns about the future of Public Access Community Television in the Islands of Hawaii.
Fortunately, Hawaii's new Digital Public Access Community Television Service, PULELEHUA.TV, now serving approximately 30,000 viewers each month, is now providing the quality of service to Hawaii's outer islands, including Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kauai, and the Big Island, that all of Oahu's residents have come to expect as exemplified by Olelo Community Television under the leadership of Keali`i Lopez as well as Olelo's previous directors.
PULELEHUA.TV, allows anyone in the community to provide community television programming, just by uploading it on the internet, just like Youtube.
PULELEHUA.TV, also allows anyone in the community to create their own channel, mixing and matching community television programs for others to watch. (Disclaimer: Maui Media Lab offers encoding and uploading classes as well as a paid service, matching students with community television producers that would rather not do encoding and uploading themselves.)
And the best part, is that it can be watched, free of charge, on any digital television, computer or handheld device with a wired or wireless Internet connection, anywhere in the Islands and anywhere in the world.
Many of the issues that used to be a problem with Hawaii's old analog public access television system have been solved by PULELEHUA.TV. Since channels are created by people in the community, and their is no limit on either the number of channels, or the content of any individual channel, there is no "corrupt executive" for with which to lay blame of favoritism or censorship with regard to community television programming. Further, PULELEHUA.TV works for broadband, direct satellite and IPTV customers as well as for customers of Hawaii's exclusive cable television franchise. PULELEHUA.TV is truly community television made by the community for the community and is not subject to arbitrary "certification fees," "literacy tests," or capricious censorchip by corrupt CEO's.
You can find many of your favorite programs on PULELEHUA.TV including Maui Weather Today with Glenn James and other programming from the University of Hawaii, State of Hawaii Department of Education, and of course all of Hawaii's Community Television Producers, whom the Maui Media Lab Foundation would like to thank for the time and efforts to shine their light and focus their lens on our Island communities.
Free Digital Public Access Hawaii Community Television, PULELEHUA.TV, Watch It!
Sam Epstein is Executive Director of the Maui Media Lab Foundation School of Media Arts & Science, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity.
